Koon Yew Yin

From Malaysia Factbook

"There are hundreds of big buildings and structures, can you tell me which buildings or structures are won by Bumiputera contractors through open tender? There are hundreds of K. meter of highway, can you point out the stretch of highway awarded through competitive tender?" — Koon Yew Yin (27 September 2012) [1]

"Mr. Koon spent some of his time investing in the recent years and is being seen as the Malaysia’s Warren Buffet" — Sumi Sam [2]

Koon Yew Yin

Koon Yew Yin (born 1933, c. age 81) is a prominent philanthropist, as well as the founder of 3 leading Malaysian construction and development companies:

2.Brief biography: Koon Yew Yin graduated as a civil engineer from KL Technical College, the former body of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), where he sat for the professional examination conducted by the Institution of Civil Engineers of United Kingdom and the Royal Institute of British Architect.[2] Now retired, he entered the construction industry with 3 other small-time contractors with a start-up capital of RM200,000 in 1966 and as a result, became one of the co-founders of IJM Corporation Berhad.

On 18 August 2009, Koon offered an RM30-million donation to Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) to build hostels within its campus in Kampar, Perak.[3] He made the offer, after receiving confirmation that UTAR had no plans to do so.[3] (The Perak state government had allocated 520 hectares of land to UTAR, but UTAR had only utilized less than 100 hectares for current development.) The offer, however, was rejected.

BFM Uncensored - "Change for a better govt! We can't stand this corruption anymore!"(Uploaded by BFM VDO on 26 April 2012)

On 9 September 2010, Koon called a press conference to refute a statement made by IpohMCA politician Thong Fah Chong, published in the latter's blog a few days earlier, claiming that Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) had rejected his donation offer because Koon had wanted a seat in the UTAR council.[3]

On 30 April 2011, Koon revealed that the real reason why Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) had rejected his RM30 million donation offer to build hostels for the students was because the MCA leaders who had bought land outside the university campus did not want him to disturb their very lucrative rental business. "There are 12,500 students and each of them pays RM200 per month and the total monthly rental income is about RM2.5 million or RM30 million a year... Remember the greedy MCA leaders will continue to suck your blood", he said.[4]

Koon Yew Yin has 4 children. 3 of them are part of the brain drain and had elected to settle down abroad. Of one of his sons, he said, "My son who has double degrees in civil engineering and chartered accountancy is an investor in Canada. He could be here to create hundreds of jobs to enrich Malaysia but he has been so disgusted with our policies and their implementation that he has chosen not to return".[5]

3.Koon Yew Yin scholarships: Koon Yew Yin gives out about RM1 million a year in scholarships [6] to cover tuition fees and cost of living expenses for the one-year foundation course in any of the public universities, including Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR). All students whose parents are earning less than RM2,000 per month, irrespective of race and religion, and who have secured a place to study for the foundation course, are eligible to apply. Applicants are only required to write a simple letter, with documentary proof of parents' salary, as well as offer letters from the universities, to the below address: [7]